The stock supply train of this invention is an operator controlled supply system for delivery of materials to a work station and in its preferred application, is used to deliver units of stock lumber to a saw mill for cutting, for example in the manufacture of prefabricated wood trusses.
In many industries, efficient operation of work stations requires timely supply of working stock to the working station. Frequently, equipment at a working station has a high capital value with a slow payback simply because the equipment is not used near to its capacity. In any fabrication operation where heavy materials must be continually supplied to the work station, means must be provided to prevent downtime while more stock is moved to the feed station. Where operations are of a kind that different types or sizes of materials are required, particularly in a random or unscheduled manner, the supply system must be sufficiently flexible to accommodate select supply on operator demand. The particular challenges to maintaining a continuous supply of different sizes or lengths of lumber to a sawyer has resulted in the invention of the subject stock supply train. While the stock supply train has particular application to a saw mill, it will be readily apparent that the stock supply train will have other applications where bulky or heavy materials are required to be delivered to a feed station on operator demand.
The stock supply train of this invention allows a supply of materials to be prepared for one or more full shifts of a work station operator before his shift begins, eliminating the down time otherwise required during restocking.